As we meet with investors, we have been getting a lot of questions about a pending corporate upgrade cycle and whether Windows 7 will be a catalyst for PC demand.
First, let me say that we're very excited about the Windows 7 launch next week. Dell is one of Microsoft's biggest OEM partners, and due to a collaborative engineering effort that extends over the past three years, we really feel customers will reap the benefits from upgrading to Win7. Windows 7 has some very compelling features ranging from better applications and drivers to faster boot times and quick online capabilities.
So why Windows 7?
Beginning with boot time - it's fast. Windows 7 uses less memory to boot the OS than Vista. Microsoft removed unnecessary services and drivers from automatically loading, which reduces the boot time and the OS footprint occupied in memory. The user interface also has several cool new features. Jump lists or pinned applications facilitate opening recently viewed items, such as files, folders, or websites in a more organized fashion. And the snap feature allows you to snap two windows to the side of the screen and compare them side by side with ease.
Windows 7 makes it easier than ever to go mobile. Improved wireless connectivity results in less time to locate and connect to a network. And with location aware printing in the Professional and Ultimate versions of Windows 7, you no longer have to manually switch printers when moving from home to work or network to network. In addition, it can also run in XP mode which is great for customers that need a way to deal with legacy applications that aren't compatible with Vista or Windows 7. Clearly, these are just a few of the cool features you will find, so check out more details in our Direct2Dell blog.
As Michael recently stated regarding the use of Windows 7, "You will love your PC again".
What about a corporate PC upgrade cycle?
In commercial accounts, increases in information technology spending are most strongly correlated with improvements in corporate profitability and that will be the key driver of a commercial refresh. Specific to Win7, we have only seen about 30% of our commercial customers adopt Vista with the rest staying on older operating systems. With a weak economy, the installed base has increased to about five years for desktops and 3-4 years for notebooks. So many of our customers are working with older machines and running an operating system that is almost 8 years old. This coupled with the fact that new PCs are faster, considerably more energy efficient, and have much better graphics capabilities make for a compelling upgrade.
We're also working with Microsoft on the launch of Windows 7 next week, and on the upcoming launch of Office 2010. Everything we see right now from the direct conversations with customers to surveys with CIOs tell us an upgrade cycle is forthcoming and likely in 2010 - helped by Win7 but really driven by an improving economy.